Mother of the Groom
by bingblot
Summary: Yet another mid-ep filler to 7x6, "The Time of Our Lives." Martha talks to Castle and Kate before the wedding and thinks about Caskett.


_Disclaimer: Still not mine. Sigh. _

_Author's Note: I fail at resisting peer pressure. For all the people who wanted to see Martha's POV before the wedding, this is for you. And apparently, Martha loves to talk about her son, so she's responsible for how long this fic ended up being. Another mid-ep filler for 7x6, "The Time of Our Lives" and again, a companion fic to my "Daughter of the Groom" and "Father of the Bride," although each can be read entirely independently. _

**Mother of the Groom**

"They're here!" Martha called out to Alexis as Richard's car drove up the driveway to the Hamptons house.

Alexis rushed out and Martha followed, sternly pushing back her own urge to run, to make sure that Richard was really there, would really have arrived safely. It was ridiculous, she told herself for probably the billionth time in the last few hours. Ridiculous to be so worried and she'd hidden it for Alexis's sake because she knew that Alexis was worried too. It had been all over the girl's face when Richard had told them to drive up to the Hamptons house ahead of himself and Kate, explaining that Kate had to call her dad and they needed to pack a little and Richard himself needed to pull some strings, contact Chief Brady in the Hamptons and get him to tell him the number of the local Justice of the Peace in the Hamptons so he could beg the man to perform the wedding ceremony on only a few hours notice.

Alexis threw herself into Richard's arms as he got out of the car—the passenger side, Martha noted. Katherine had driven them up. "Dad!"

Richard grunted a little and then laughed. "Okay, Alexis, let me breathe. Come on now, you just saw me a couple hours ago."

"I know but I'm just excited, Dad," Alexis explained—untruthfully, Martha noted. But then Alexis wouldn't mention Richard's disappearance, what had happened the last time he'd been driving up here for a wedding.

Richard's expression changed, his happiness momentarily dimming, and Martha knew her son knew perfectly well what Alexis's real reason for greeting him like that was. Of course he did.

Martha suppressed a sigh but then stepped forward, pushing all the inconvenient emotion and worry aside. She was an actress and the mother of the groom. It was her bounden duty to keep everyone from thinking about that other terrible day as much as possible.

"Come in, come in!" she called, waving a hand at Richard and then hurrying over to hug Katherine. She kept an arm around Katherine, almost propelling her forward as she called out instructions.

"Richard, go inside and start getting ready. Alexis darling, will you bring Katherine's bag in with you to the guest room? Katherine, come with me. And Richard, you are forbidden to come into the guest wing of the house."

"It's my house, Mother—" he began in automatic protest.

She held up a hand, giving him one of her I'm-your-mother-and-you-will-listen-to-me looks. "No, Richard, you know it's bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony."

He laughed. "I've already seen Kate today, Mother. We just drove up here together or did you not notice that we got out of the same car?"

She waved a dismissive hand. "Details, Richard. A good performer learns to deal with changed circumstances and still follow the script. You know how this works. You are not to see Katherine again until the ceremony starts."

"I don't believe in that superstition anyway," said her son, the man who believed in every magical or supernatural thing ever imagined and probably a few that had never been imagined.

Beside her, Katherine laughed. "Since when? Castle, you believe in the Loch Ness monster and magical Incan artifacts and mummy curses. You cannot tell me you aren't superstitious."

Richard stopped and turned in the hallway of the house, letting his own bag fall to the floor, as he crossed back to stand in front of Katherine, meeting her eyes. And Martha had the odd sense that she'd suddenly become invisible. "Yes, I do believe in all those things. But you're forgetting something, Kate. I believe in magic and in fate and in destiny but, more than all that, I believe in _us_. All the superstitions, the other supernatural things, they're all second to that. You are my fate, Kate, and this—_us_—is destiny so no, I don't believe any superstition can compete with that."

Katherine gave a rather wobbly smile. "Fate and Kate? You've been dying to use that rhyme for years, haven't you?"

Richard gave Katherine a look. "Really? You're making fun of me now?"

Katherine laughed and abruptly threw her arms around Richard's neck, kissing him quickly. "I believe in us too."

Her son closed his eyes for a moment as he wrapped his arms around his fiancée and Martha felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes and hastily blinked them back. Not now. She would cry later, she told herself, at the ceremony. She didn't kid herself that she'd be able to get through the ceremony without crying.

"And I believe," she broke in, interrupting the moment, though she hated to do it, "that you two will be late for your own wedding if you don't start getting ready."

Richard and Katherine broke apart—Katherine with a small laugh and Richard shooting Martha a disgruntled look that Martha ignored before he kissed Katherine, quite deliberately taking his time about it.

Katherine—dear girl—was the one to finally draw back, gently pushing him away. "Not now, Castle. Your mom's right. We do need to start getting ready. And my dad should be arriving any minute."

"Listen to the woman, Richard. She's far more sensible than you are," Martha told him, only half-humorously.

Her son rolled his eyes as he released his fiancée and stepped back. "Don't make me disinvite you from our wedding, Mother," he threatened with mock seriousness.

Her soon-to-be daughter-in-law laughed, slipping her own arm around Martha. "What makes you think I'd let you disinvite your mom, Castle?"

Her son gave an exaggerated sigh, pulling a beleaguered face. "I see how it'll be from now on. My mother, my daughter, and my wife will all gang up on me. What am I getting myself into?"

_My wife. _Beside her, Martha felt Katherine still, heard her sudden indrawn breath at those words and knew Katherine had been momentarily thrown to hear Richard refer to her as his wife.

But fortunately, at that moment, they all heard the sound of another car driving up and the brief sound of a horn and Katherine was jolted back to the present, turning immediately.

She rushed out of the door to greet her father and Richard turned to follow her out but Martha held him back, gripping his arm. "Give her and Jim a minute alone, Richard. It's not every day a father sees his daughter for the first time on her wedding day, as you'll learn for yourself one day."

He turned back to her, making a face. "If you're trying to prepare me for Alexis's wedding day, it's not working."

Martha only smiled at that. Alexis's wedding day—lord, what a wreck Richard was going to be on that day. Thank goodness he would have Katherine to keep him calm and sane when it happened. And realized belatedly what she'd just thought, how confident she was that whatever happened, about Alexis's wedding day or anything else, Katherine would be there for Richard. "I'm so happy for you and Katherine, darling," she found herself saying and then was abruptly caught up in her son's arms as he hugged her.

"Thank you, mother."

"She's good for you," Martha said simply. Because Katherine really was. It was what had made Martha like Katherine from the first, because she'd seen that somehow, this police detective her son had started to shadow brought out the best in her son, made him somehow… more, better than he'd been before. As much as Martha adored her son, she wasn't blind to his faults, to his impulsiveness, his irresponsibility when it came to just about everything else in his life except for Alexis, his immaturity. And somehow, Kate Beckett had changed that, tamed her son's impulsiveness and made him become more responsible, more mature. (Although, admittedly, Martha thought sometimes that she could have happily lived without Richard's newfound sense of responsibility that made him go rushing into burning apartment buildings after serial killers set off bombs or trying to take a sniper's bullet in order to save Katherine's life or any one of a number of other dangerous risks her son had taken in order to protect Katherine over the years. But Martha had also accepted that it wasn't up to her; Richard had always made his own decisions, she'd taught him to do that very thing and was proud of him for it, but oh, there were times Martha could almost wish her son was more of a coward.) But at the end of the day, Katherine Beckett had made her son a better man and for that, Martha couldn't help but love her.

She watched as Richard's expression softened, his eyes glowing. "She really is," he said softly, his voice that almost awed and so loving tone that she only ever heard him use when he spoke about Katherine or Alexis. For years, it was a tone, a look, reserved solely for Alexis but in the past few years, since Katherine had come into her son's life, that had changed and now it was a tone and a look that he used for both of them. These two most important women in her son's life.

She felt tears threatening and couldn't quite keep them all back. He was so happy, so very happy, and it was all she'd ever wanted for him.

Martha lifted her hand to cup her son's cheek, for a fleeting moment seeing him as the little boy he'd once been when he'd been small enough that her one hand could cradle his entire face, back in the days when she'd had to stoop to him and not the other way around. "I love you, Richard," she said quietly, the words she so rarely said to him because between them, it never needed to be said.

His eyes crinkled a little. "I love you too, Mother."

"And I love Katherine as well so take good care of her."

He smiled, looking so happy it almost hurt to look at him. "I will, Mother, I promise."

They both heard the sound of Katherine's voice nearing as she talked to Jim and both turned, Richard greeting Jim with one of those handshake/half-hugs that men exchanged. "Thanks for coming, Jim."

Jim grinned. "I couldn't miss my favorite daughter's wedding."

Katherine laughed. "I'm your only daughter, Dad," she said and Martha could tell that this was a frequent refrain between the two of them.

"Hello, Jim," Martha greeted him.

"Martha." He bent to accept Martha's kiss on the cheek.

Martha smiled. "Now you can help me persuade these two love-birds to separate so they can each get ready and not be late for their own wedding."

They all laughed and finally, after a few more brief words, Richard went off to his own bedroom and Martha showed Jim and Kate to the guest wing.

"Jim, this will be your room as usual," she said, first. "You already know where the restrooms and everything are, of course" she added, since Jim had stayed here before.

"I'll be fine. Thank you, Martha." He paused and kissed Katherine on the cheek. "Go get ready. I'll come up and get you when it's time."

Katherine smiled at her father. "See you soon, Dad."

Martha went ahead to open up the next guest room door to see that Alexis—good girl—had already put Katherine's bag inside. "Here, Katherine, you can get ready in this room." She paused and then added, "We know you won't be sleeping in this room tonight so don't unpack anything other than what you'll be wearing for the ceremony. Alexis has already agreed that she'll come back and move your bag into the master bedroom sometime after the ceremony."

Katherine laughed a little and blushed. "Thank you, Martha."

She moved to the dresser to slip off her watch and then paused as she saw the small jewelry box that Martha had already gotten out and placed on it, lying next to the small bouquet Alexis had prepared while they'd been waiting for Richard and Katherine to arrive.

Slowly, with enough care that Martha knew Katherine remembered the box perfectly well, Katherine reached out and opened the box to reveal the earrings, Martha's mother's earrings.

Katherine looked up at Martha, tears suddenly brimming in her eyes. "Oh, Martha," she breathed, her voice shaking a little. And Martha knew they were both remembering when she had first given them to Katherine, the other wedding day before the ceremony that had never happened.

Martha tried to smile but failed, knew her own tears were welling up. "They're yours now, Katherine. Keep them and you can give them to Alexis and then to your own daughter, if you have one."

Katherine let out a sound that was halfway between a gasp and a sob and then she was in Martha's arms, hugging her fiercely. "Thank you, Martha. Thank you so much."

Martha kissed Katherine's cheek, closing her eyes against her own tears. "They were always intended for you. They were always intended for my son's wife."

Martha drew back to meet Katherine's eyes as she finished, "They were always intended for the love of my son's life." And it was true. Martha wondered, sometimes, why it had never occurred to her to offer the earrings to either Meredith or Gina—although she expected neither of them would have particularly appreciated them either, neither caring much for jewelry beyond what was most expensive, what would be most admired by others. But even aside from that, Martha had never even thought to offer the earrings to either of her former daughters-in-law, not even only to wear for their weddings. In hindsight, it was obvious—but she did wonder, what had told her even back then not to offer the earrings? She hadn't truly _known_ that they weren't right for Richard, that the marriages wouldn't last.

"Oh Martha…" Katherine blinked rapidly and then lifted a hand to wipe away her tears. "I'll make him happy, I promise."

Martha smiled a real honest smile. "You already have."

"I do love him, Martha, and I'll never hurt him again if I can help it."

Martha pressed her lips together to hold back her emotions as she nodded. "I know that, Katherine darling," she managed to say, her voice a little shaky in spite of all her efforts. And then Martha summoned up all the ability she had to hide her emotions and asked with commendable steadiness, "Do you have everything you need? Will you need any help getting dressed?"

Katherine let out a breath and shook her head. "No, thank you, Martha. You should go get ready yourself. I'll be fine."

Martha nodded and then gave Katherine a last hug. "I'll come back in a little while to see if you're ready and make sure you don't need any last-minute help."

Martha returned to her own room in the family wing of the house to get dressed herself, Katherine's last promise running through her mind. _I'll never hurt him again if I can help it. _

And Martha believed her. She did love Katherine but more importantly, she trusted Katherine with her son, with her son's heart.

Oddly, or perhaps not at all oddly, she and Katherine had never before spoken in so many words about how much Katherine had hurt Richard. They both knew that Katherine _had_ hurt Richard, had hurt him badly, but they'd never spoken about it.

Martha liked to believe she'd learned to forgive, to let go of past hurts, over the course of her life. She'd forgiven her ex-husbands; she'd forgiven Henry for stealing all her life-savings (and in that case, had realized that being forced to move in to Richard's loft had been a blessing in disguise because it had brought her closer to Alexis, allowed her to be more present in both her son's and her granddaughter's lives in a way Martha treasured).

But Martha had never learned to forgive anyone who hurt her son. Her son, her Richard, whom she loved more than anything, the one thing in her life she was proudest of. At the end of her days when she stood before the pearly gates—or wherever—Martha knew that she would be able to hold her head high because whatever else she had done, whatever mistakes she had made, her son was a good man. And Martha had long ago accepted that no one could hurt her son without earning Martha's persistent enmity.

Martha had not forgiven Kyra Blaine. She had seen how hurt Richard had been, had seen the way he'd flung himself into meaningless relationships after she'd left as if to prove he wasn't hurt, he didn't really care—and prove that women still wanted him.

(Although really Richard had always found it easy to win women over, with his looks and his charm and his wit. In his entire life, Martha didn't think her son had ever had to really try to get a woman into his bed; he flirted, of course, but he didn't seduce women, he never really needed to. And then he'd met Detective Kate Beckett and for the first time, he'd needed to try, needed to wait, needed to change—and he had.)

Martha had not forgiven Meredith. The only reason Martha didn't quite blame her own self for having introduced Richard to Meredith in the first place, back when all she'd known of Meredith was that she was a cute, fun, young fellow actress in the play they'd both been in at the time, was that she'd seen that, whatever else, Meredith had given Richard Alexis and Alexis was, had always been, the greatest joy of Richard's life. But for all that, Martha had not forgiven Meredith herself. Not for deserting the marriage the way she had, not for essentially abandoning Alexis the way she had, not for hurting Richard the way she had. _Richard_ had forgiven Meredith but her son had one of the most forgiving natures of anyone she'd ever met—and Martha… well, Martha had long ago accepted that she would never forgive Meredith. She might never admit it to another living soul, was civil to Meredith when they met, but she would never fully forgive Meredith.

As for Gina, well, Martha didn't dislike Gina. She even liked Gina as far as simply being Richard's editor and publisher because Martha had to admit that Gina had been helpful for Richard's writing and his career. As Richard's ex-wife, Martha tolerated Gina with a mild sort of affection born mostly out of familiarity, helped by the fact that she knew Gina hadn't really hurt Richard emotionally. Gina had irritated Richard, had disappointed him, had angered him—but not really hurt him. Most likely because Richard's heart had never been as fully involved with Gina as he might have thought.

And then her son had met Kate Beckett.

Martha had seen her son before, during, and after every relationship of his life from his earliest boyhood crushes to his high school girlfriends to Kyra to both of his previous marriages and including the meaningless flings he'd had along the way. She knew how her son treated women, how he behaved around women he cared about (and how he behaved around women he didn't care anything at all about, for that matter).

At first, she'd only thought that Richard found Detective Beckett to be intriguing, an interesting character study (which was a phase she'd also seen Richard through, including his time shadowing Sophia Turner, although she'd never actually met Sophia, only knew of her through what little Richard said about her, but Martha knew her son well enough to be able to read between the lines of what he'd said about the CIA agent to guess at their relationship). Martha no longer remembered exactly when or how it had dawned on her that Richard's feelings for the detective already far surpassed not only whatever Richard had felt for Sophia Turner but had deepened into love. It had been some months after the detective had forgiven Richard for his looking into Johanna Beckett's murder but that was as close as Martha could come to identifying the moment. She wondered if Richard himself even knew exactly when he'd fallen in love with Kate Beckett.

All Martha had known at first was that Richard had fallen in love with the detective and, since Martha liked Detective Beckett and thought she was a good influence on Richard in spite of the danger she'd brought into his life, she'd mostly approved.

But that had been before—before she'd realized just how deeply Richard had fallen in love, before she'd realized how much this new love of Richard's was paining him, before Detective Beckett had been shot and then broken Richard's heart.

Since then, Martha had been torn. Torn because she'd grown quite fond of Kate Beckett and still generally believed the detective was a good influence on Richard but however fond of Kate as she might be, Martha was first and foremost Richard's mother and she hated to see him hurting, hated anyone who hurt her son, and she hadn't been able to help resenting Katherine. (And Martha was biased enough to wonder what woman in her right mind—and she'd always thought the detective was smart and insightful—wouldn't fall in love with Richard.)

Even after Richard and Katherine had finally straightened things out and in spite of Richard's obvious happiness with Katherine, Martha had been cautious. She'd tried not to think about it, had hidden it as much as she could from Richard and from Katherine herself, but she'd been cautious and ever-watchful, wondering when—_if_—Katherine would again hurt Richard. If Katherine really, truly loved Richard as deeply as he loved her.

It had taken months after Richard and Katherine had gotten engaged, months of watching Katherine with Richard to trust that, no matter what had happened in the past, Katherine was truly in love with Richard and would never hurt him again if she could help it. Months to fully forgive Katherine for having hurt Richard so badly in the past.

Martha paused in putting on her jewelry, turning to look at the newest picture on her nightstand, one she'd placed there the last time she had come up to this house for the wedding that hadn't happened after she'd suddenly realized that she didn't have any pictures with Katherine in them in her room. The picture was one of her favorites, taken at the surprise birthday party for Richard which Katherine had planned along with her and Alexis's help. Martha herself was not really in the picture, only partially visible in the background as she'd been chatting with her students at the time. The focus of the picture was on Richard, Alexis, and Katherine. Richard had his arm around Alexis and had just laughed at something she'd said while Katherine was standing beside him on his other side, close enough that it looked as if her cheek was resting against his shoulder, while she smiled at Richard. And there was so much love shining in the detective's eyes, obvious even in the picture, that Martha had felt tears of happiness pricking at the back of her eyes the first time she'd seen the picture.

She thought about Katherine's words again. _I do love him, Martha, and I'll never hurt him again if I can help it._

If she could help it. Somehow, Martha found the inclusion of those words to be reassuring. Martha knew her son and Katherine too well—and had too much experience of life and of marriage—to believe that anyone, no matter how in love, could promise to never hurt another person ever. Her son and Katherine were both strong-willed, both had their own faults and their own past emotional baggage, especially after the last months of Richard's unexplained disappearance. And they had each hurt each other in various ways in the past years. But in spite of all that, in spite of their differences, they had always, always, come back to each other, loved each other, trusted each other.

And today, in deciding to get married so spontaneously, both were taking a final step to seizing their happiness with both hands, committing to a future together, no matter what else had happened in the past or might happen in the future.

Martha found herself suddenly remembering the video message Richard had recorded during his disappearance that he and Alexis had found. The video Martha honestly tried not to remember, had been reluctant to watch even once but had done so for Richard's sake, because he said he needed to know what he'd said, if he'd explained anything about what was going on. (He hadn't.) In the video, he'd said that he loved her and asked her to take care of Alexis and then, at the last minute, after a pause, he'd said, "And mother, if I don't come back, watch over Kate too. She's strong; I know she'll survive, but she'll throw herself into her work and she already has workaholic tendencies." He'd looked as if he were trying to smile at that but he'd failed. "I just… I don't want Kate to go back to the life she lived before we met; I want her to _live_. And if anyone can remind Kate to live life to the fullest, it's you, mother, because you've always lived life to the fullest yourself. You've shown that to me and to Alexis every day. And I'd like to know that Kate will have a mother again. I—I know you'll do this for my sake, Mother, and I love you for it."

A large tear fell and splashed onto the nightstand and Martha sniffled and quickly wiped the dampness away from her cheeks. Drat it. She shouldn't have allowed herself to become so maudlin, to think about that video message. Now she would need to reapply her makeup.

Moving briskly now, she finished putting on her jewelry, clasping one of her favorite bracelets, a gift from Richard, on her wrist, before she turned her attention to her face, relieved to see that her tears had only minimally smeared her makeup.

Finished with her own preparations, Martha paused to peer out the window into the backyard towards the pavilion where the wedding would take place just in time to see Richard in his suit come striding out of the house, his steps quick and eager, and even from that distance and the angle, Martha could see that her son's face was lit by a beaming smile.

Martha smiled and left her room to return to the guest room to see her son's bride.

She knocked and then opened the door of the room at Katherine's quiet "Come in."

And then momentarily lost her breath at the sight of the younger woman.

Katherine gave her a rather shy smile, one which Martha didn't think she'd ever seen on the normally-confident detective's face before, as she turned in a slow circle to show off the full effect of the elegant white pantsuit. "What do you think?"

"Oh, Katherine darling, you look just perfect."

Katherine glanced down at herself again and then back up at Martha. "Do you think so? I know it's not a dress…"

"It's lovely. _You're_ lovely," Martha responded sincerely, meaning every word. She remembered telling Katherine at the last wedding that Katherine was the most beautiful bride she'd ever seen and it was true, again, today. But Martha didn't repeat her words from that day, didn't want to remind Katherine of it again, would not do anything to dim the happiness shining out of the younger woman's eyes.

Martha heard a quiet knock—ah, that must be Alexis—and sure enough, Kate smiled as she looked past Martha to the door. "Come in, Alexis."

Martha slid her arm around her granddaughter's shoulders, noting that the girl looked lovely in a simple pale pink dress. "Oh good, Alexis darling, tell Katherine that she looks perfect."

"You do, Kate," Alexis smiled. "You look really beautiful."

"Turn around, Katherine. Show Alexis the back," Martha said, since she thought the back of the outfit might be her favorite part, the bow in the back rescuing the white flowing slacks from being just a little bit too plain.

Martha thought of Richard, waiting so impatiently in the yard, remembered other times of seeing him look at Kate as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and smiled a little. He would most definitely think so today.

"I think Dad might swallow his own tongue when he sees you, Kate," Alexis said and Martha had to chuckle along with Kate.

"Now, is there anything else you need, Katherine?" Martha asked, although the question was mostly rhetorical. Katherine was lovely, looked as happy and ready to be married as any woman could look. Martha's mother's earrings hung from her ears and Richard's ring sparkled on her finger and—Martha felt her heart warm in her chest—all the love for Richard that Martha had ever hoped to see on any woman's face shone out of Katherine's eyes and in her expression at that moment.

"No, Martha, I think I'm ready."

Martha smiled and pulled Katherine in for a hug, although she kept the hug a little tentative, mindful not to muss the bride's hair or makeup. "Thank you for making my son so happy," she whispered.

"Thank _you_, Martha, for everything," Katherine breathed in response. And Martha somehow sensed that the detective was thanking Martha for forgiving her for all the hurt she'd caused Richard in the past, for accepting her as Richard's bride in spite of it.

Martha drew back and smiled for a moment into Katherine's eyes, trusting the detective to be able to read her thoughts in her expression. _You love my son, Kate, and you've made him happier than he's ever been in his life, and there's nothing I wouldn't forgive for that. _

Martha surrendered her place to her granddaughter, watching as Alexis too hugged Katherine and told her, "I'm really happy for you and my dad, Kate."

Katherine gave Alexis a fond smile. "Thank you, Alexis. You know I love you too, right, Alexis?" she asked softly.

And Martha smiled. Yes, she loved Katherine for that too, for being such a role model for Alexis, the role-model that Alexis had never had in Meredith. Katherine would be just as good for Alexis as she was for Richard.

"I'm glad you're joining our family, Kate," Alexis said in that tone that Martha recognized from when Alexis was fighting her emotions, a tone that always made the girl sound younger, less mature and capable than she usually was. And then, with a change of tone that surprised Martha but which she liked to think of as showing that her granddaughter had inherited some of her own ability to mask her emotions, Alexis added, "And I think I'll like having your dad as a grandfather."

Ah yes, Jim Beckett. Martha could not claim to know Katherine's father very well, still in her heart of hearts felt that he was, if not exactly dull, a little sedate for her taste, but then she didn't matter. She knew Richard liked Jim Beckett personally, even aside from his being Kate's father, respected him. And Martha had to admit, too, that having a stable and reliable father figure such as Jim Beckett around might be good for Richard, especially after knowing how much Richard had been disappointed in his own father after seeing the man for a second time. Martha suppressed a little internal sigh at the thought of Richard's father—that man, still so handsome and charming after all these years, but seeing him again, seeing a glimpse of the life he led, Martha had, finally, been glad that he hadn't been around, had not been a part of either her life or her son's. It had not been easy raising Richard on her own and Martha had lost count of the number of times she'd wondered about Richard's father, wished he might somehow return, be the father she wanted Richard to have. But now, seeing him again, Martha had known that it had been better, after all, for her and Richard to have been on their own. Richard had been better off and she had, on her own, raised a good man, a kind man, a man devoted to his family. No, Martha had no regrets anymore.

"He'll like having you as a granddaughter," Katherine assured Alexis.

Martha smiled to herself, feeling a swell of pride and love. Of course he would. Who would not be proud of such a granddaughter? She had raised a good man and, in his turn, Richard, on his own, had raised this lovely, brilliant, caring young woman.

The thought of Richard, though, reminded Martha that her son was most likely on the verge of bouncing out of his own skin from sheer excitement. She knew her son and it was a constant source of amusement and wonder at how, really, there were times she could swear that her son had not grown up at all from the active little boy he'd been. A good man with, it sometimes seemed, the heart of a perennial eight-year-old.

"Alexis darling, if we keep your father waiting much longer, I have a feeling he might actually burst from excitement."

Alexis and Kate both laughed, their expressions brightening, dispelling the softer emotions. Yes, these two young women knew Richard too and loved him, these two women that were dearest to her son's heart, Martha thought, and knew only joy.

It was right and fitting and the way of the world, that a mother would lose her position as the most important woman in her son's life, to his wife and to his daughter. A verse from the Bible suddenly darted into Martha's mind: "a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and they two shall be one flesh." Richard, as was perhaps typical of him—he never had been particularly conventional—had found Alexis first, as the most important woman in his life, leaving Martha second. Martha knew, without conceit and without words, that neither Meredith nor Gina had ever supplanted her importance in Richard's life. She might not have been living under his roof during either of his marriages but she'd always known that she came second only to Alexis. In Meredith's case, she knew it had been the subject of a few arguments between Meredith and Richard because Meredith had not wanted to share Richard's attention with anyone, including Alexis, let alone Richard's mother. Richard had steadfastly—and with that eerie calm which he sometimes displayed to hide a cool fury mingled in with disillusionment (something Martha had only ever known him to use with Meredith and then later with Gina, which she was glad of as it was uncharacteristic and in either case had signaled the death of Richard's warmest feelings for his ex-wives—told Meredith that she was his wife and he loved her but he owed too much to his mother to ever refuse her anything—or so Martha had been told by Meredith years later and Martha had guessed at the rest of it from her knowledge of her son and of her former daughter-in-law and their relationship.

And now, Martha knew—had known for years really—that Katherine had supplanted her place in Richard's heart as the person dearest to him, only after Alexis. It was a knowledge that had kept Martha from even once suggesting to Richard that he stop risking his life so much by continuing to work so closely with Detective Beckett and the NYPD. She had heard about a sniper shooting a man right in front of her son and Detective Beckett and had then seen her son try to throw himself in front of a sniper's bullet for Detective Beckett and even then, in spite of the resulting nightmares, she had not asked. She had known her son too well, knew that, by then, he loved Beckett too deeply, and she knew, too, that saying anything would have done some damage, perhaps even irreparably, to her relationship with her son. As much as she knew Richard loved her and as much as she worried over his safety, she had kept her silence. She knew she might have taken advantage of his devotion to Alexis to persuade him but Martha had not wanted to do so, had not wanted to manipulate her son in such a way, because of her own fears for his safety. And her own forbearance had added a personal, poignant edge to Martha's earlier resentment of Kate Beckett for hurting Richard, for making him believe his love wasn't returned.

But for Richard's sake, for his happiness, she'd forgiven Katherine and she had to admit that she was glad she had done so. Katherine was a good woman, an extraordinary woman as Richard always said, who had made mistakes but who had learned from them, had come out stronger and better from the experience. And she loved Richard and trusted him, as deeply and completely as Richard deserved to be loved and trusted. And she'd made Richard happy.

Her son's love. Her son's bride.

"We'll send your father up so he can escort you outside, Katherine," Martha said with as much briskness as she could muster in spite of her welling emotion.

Katherine nodded and gave her a smile. Yes, she was ready to be married.

Martha and Alexis went downstairs and outside to where the men were waiting. Richard was standing with Jim but immediately turned and looked at her and at Alexis and the look on his face spoke eloquently enough even at that distance.

Oh, yes, he was ready to be married. Again. And for the last time. Because this really would be the last time, Martha knew.

Martha could not say that Katherine Beckett was the first woman her son had ever loved or the only woman her son had ever really loved.

The world liked to focus so much on the first love, disavowing all other previous loves as not having been "the real thing" after they were over so that always, the current love was the "first" real love. But Martha had known enough love in her own life to have learned that all loves were different and precious in their own way. She had loved Richard's father, had loved her former husbands, had loved Henry even if he had turned out to be a lying, thieving bastard, had loved Chet Palaburn too. And Richard's former loves—Kyra, Meredith, Gina—had been as real as the hurt and anger and disappointment he'd experienced when the love faded and the relationships ended.

No, Martha did not believe in the paramount importance of the "first love." What Martha did believe in, what really mattered, was not the first love but the _last_ love. The _last_ person one would ever love, the love that would endure past loss and change and time and the general "slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune." The love that would last until death.

And that was the love she knew Richard felt for Katherine, the love Katherine felt for Richard. She had seen it in Katherine in those interminable months that Richard had been missing. She had seen it in Richard, in the video message he had left for her where, even then, his thoughts had all been for Alexis and for Kate. And even before then, she'd seen it in Richard in the years he'd loved Katherine and waited for Katherine before they had ever begun a romantic relationship. She'd known that Katherine Beckett was (painful as the knowledge had been at the time) the last woman Richard would ever love.

And looking at her son at that moment, Martha knew, deep in her soul, that this was right.

Katherine would not be Richard's first wife or his first love. But she would be his _last_ wife, his _last_ love.

And that was all that really mattered.

_~The End~_

_A/N 2: I would say this will definitely be the last fic I write based on "The Time of Our Lives" but I don't know if I can say such a thing, given my obsession with this episode. I had no idea when I started this that this fic would turn out to be so long but once I got into it, all my favorite Martha moments rushed into my head, in particular (as I'm sure everyone will notice), the scene at the end of "He's Dead, She's Dead" where Martha tells Castle that she raised a good man. The look on Castle's face when she says that makes me tear up every time so I had to include it. Beyond that, have fun guessing the other episode shout-outs. Oh, and I don't think we ever find out in canon the name of the man who Martha lived with who stole all her life savings but I decided to christen him Henry because he needed a name for Martha to think of him by.  
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_The little detail at the beginning that Kate was the one who drove herself and Castle up to the Hamptons was inspired by the wonderful "The Joy In My Heart" by chezchuckles. _

_The quote from the Bible is Ephesians 5:31. The quote about the "slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune" is from "Hamlet." _

_Thank you, everyone, for reading. And to everyone who's read, reviewed, and favorited the other fics in this little series, this one is thanks to you. _


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